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Savannah's homeless authority balances budget, cites new day

Savannah’s homeless authority officials Tuesday reported they have a working balanced budget for the first time in several years as they work to repair the group’s credibility.

“We have a balanced budget,” Larry Lee, board chair of the Chatham–Savannah Authority for the Homeless, told his board during their monthly meeting. “It’s a new day for the homeless authority.”

The authority took a hit in January from a consultant group brought in by former city manager Rochelle Small-Toney, who expressed lack of confidence in the authority’s leadership. The consultants’ draft report criticized the authority’s operations and cast doubt on its future economic viability.

The budget presented by David Cannady, a certified public accountant and authority treasurer, matches the $905,640 income for 2013 with the projected expenses of the same amount.

Included in the budget is $75,000 allocated to repay outstanding debt owed by the authority, he said.

Board member Robert McAlister, a former veteran Savannah budget director, called it “a balanced budget,” which will allow the group to escape what he called “creative ways of staying afloat” used in the past.

In the past the authority has developed budgets in anticipation of money being received. Still at issue is when the city will release funds to the authority.

The authority officials said they need funds to spend up front, then get reimbursement under grants rather than the other way around as has frequently occurred in the past.

“We’re not spending money we don’t have in the bank,” Lee said. “We need it up front. It’s just a question of timing.”

Key to the 2013 budget is $200,000 from the city of Savannah, which will allow the group to pay its expenses moving forward.

Lee, a retired assistant U.S. attorney, has complained that problems attributed to the authority stemmed from a lack of funding.

Despite the funding problems and criticism from the consultant’s report, Lee has said the authority is continuing its core services to fight homelessness as it works to correct flaws in its operation.

He and board members have brought new members on board including McAlister, Carole Kaczorowski, Chris Colson, Lynn Coleman and Brian Davis.

They help fill 15 of the board’s 19 membership positions.

Also Tuesday, Lee announced the authority and Union Mission Inc. have reached an agreement on disputed property at 5000 Jasmine Ave., the former home of the Magdalene Project, an emergency shelter for homeless women and children.

Union Mission officials purchased the property for $400,000 in 2006, then deeded it to the authority in return for a 50-year lease.

It retained a $100 option to get the deed during the 50-year term.

Union Mission subsequently moved the shelter after storm damage, but when it attempted to take back the deed the authority wanted to discuss partial reimbursement of funds spent.

Under the agreement brokered last week by Acting City Manager Stephanie Cutter, Union Mission retrieved the deed and agreed to pay to the authority 20 percent of any sales price in excess of the $400,000, up to $20,000, Lee said.

“Union Mission is a very important ally of the homeless authority,” Lee said. “All of us have seen people under the bridge and we want that to stop.”